For eight innings, this looked a lot like it was going to be another big, positive statement game from the Pirates. They came out of the gate with a two-run Andrew McCutchen home run, got a solo Jordy Mercer homer to build the lead, held onto the lead behind a solid-enough Charlie Morton start, and […]

The Pirates' first real test as contenders this year was the five-game set against the Cardinals at PNC Park two weeks ago, and the Pirates passed that test with flying colors. As a result, the Bucs have been in first place for two full weeks now. What their success in that series has earned them […]

Last night, me, James from Pirates Prospects, Cory from Three Rivers Burgh Blog,

On last Tuesday or Wednesday's ROOT Sports broadcast, there was quite a bit of talk about how Andrew Lambo was "forcing Neal Huntington's hand," which I interpreted at the time to mean that we'd be seeing Andrew Lambo in black and gold in relatively short order. It looks like that guess was right, as this […]

Perhaps we should've realized that a series out in Denver sandwiched between an incredible homestand and a series against the Cardinals was going to be an easy target for a let-down. Certainly we should be happy that the Pirates appear to have escaped last night's game without serious injury,  Whatever the case, it's certainly not […]

AJ Burnett has been really, really excellent the last two times he's taken the mound for the Pirates. In his last two starts, he's given up 11 hits and two runs over 16 innings. He's got 18 strikeuts and only four walks. He buzzed through the Rockies with a complete game last Sunday in what […]

The best part about being in first place is getting to shrug off losses like these because the Cardinals lost.

After a 9-2 road trip that was successful beyond pretty much every Pirate fan's wildest dreams, the Bucs are headed on a six-game road trip to Colorado and St. Louis. The challenge at this point is clear: maintain the four-game lead on the Cardinals over the weekend against the Rockies while the Cardinals play the […]

Alex Rios was claimed on waivers by the Rangers yesterday, and today they completed a trade with the White Sox for him in exchange for Leury Garcia. Garcia isn't much of anything other than a utility man, so mostly the White Sox are trading for salary relief here (they're only sending $1 million the Rangers […]

Good morning. It is August 9th, 2013. With last night's win, the Pirates are 70-44. Since 1992, the Pirates failed to win 70 games in the following seasons*: 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. The two new additions to the list today are 1998 and 2000, which I think represents […]

When the Marlins scored two runs off of Gerrit Cole in the top of the first inning, my immediate thought was that the Pirates had to hope that Jose Fernandez wasn't going to pitch more than five or six innings this afternoon. I thought that was a reasonable hope; Fernandez is only 20, after all, […]

I don't think that this needs too much hype or additional buildup. On July 28, Gerrit Cole (1st overall pick in the 2011 draft, preseason #7 prospect at Baseball America) faced off against Jose Fernandez (14th overall pick in the 2011 draft, preseason #5 prospect at Baseball America) in Miami. Cole struck out eight batters […]

Good morning. It is August 8th, 2013. With last night's win, the Pirates are 69-44. Since 1992, the Pirates failed to win 69 games in the following seasons*: 1994, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. That's nine total seasons. There is more work to be done. *The strike shortened 1994 and 1995. The […]

For most of four innings, the Pirates couldn't do much against Tom Koehler. Koehler somehow thought he could get a grooved 3-1 fastball to Andrew McCutchen that was promptly deposited in the right-center grandstands, but that was the only hit he'd given up in the first four innings to go along with seven strikeouts and […]

This Marlins series is strange. The Pirates and Marlins played each other not even two weeks ago, and this second incarnation of the first series is happening with the same exact pitching matchups that we saw over the weekend in Miami ten-odd days ago. Tonight, Tom Koehler and Charlie Morton match up after giving us the […]

Andrew McCutchen has two hits in each of the Pirates' last four games. He's hitting .343/.405/.657 since the All-Star Break. He has 31 doubles this year, which is more than he hit last year and only four shy of his career high of 35. He's hitting .375 against lefties with a 1.146 OPS. His slugging […]

One of my all-time favorite Pittsburgh Pirate memories of the early 1990s is the Curtis Wilkerson Grand Slam game. The name is pretty explanatory, but the Pirates entered the ninth inning down 1-0 against the Cardinals in a mid-September game, and after they tied the game up at one, utilityman Wilkerson stepped up against Lee […]

The Pirates have been in first place a couple of times over the past three seasons, but this is the first time that I can remember that they've managed to hold on to first place for more than a few days at a time. In the past, the Pirates would surge into first with a […]

Good morning. It's Tuesday, August 6th. The Pirates are in first place by two games after the Cardinals' loss to the Dodgers last night. They have a 99.3% chance of making the playoffs and a 51.1% chance of winning the NL Central. They have six games against the Marlins and Rockies this week to pad […]